Chapter 8

~~ Confrontation ~~

“Ahhh!” Chase screamed like a lady in distress, digging his hands into the soil.

The terrified scream didn’t last five seconds before he kept mute and remained frozen. He sat so still, one would have contradicting thoughts to if he was the one that yelled just a few seconds ago.

His heaved and heaved, his chest undulating under his clothing, his heart beating at an alarming rate. He was sweating profusely, the growls stinging his ear like needles. It was as though, a tiny speaker was placed in his ears, the terrifying growls emanating from them.

Chase was very terrified, even though he hadn’t confirmed what was behind them.

Ian wasn’t left out, seated beside Chase and trying all his best to remain sane. He had always been the cool one among them, and was sometimes stoic even when it came to facing threatening factors.

But this, this was totally different, on a whole other level. He could somewhat perceive the rage, devastation and killing intent, wisp through the air from whatever was behind them.

Though he couldn’t see it, he had this feeling of certainty that it was the serial killing beast.

Taking control of his frozen limbs, he contorted his face as he tried to move his right palm that was resting on the ground. The veins in his arm bulged, his fingers slowly flinching and he tapped Chase’s hand.

A very cold, freaky chill ran through Chase’s systems. He shuddered in fear from the contact. Then he grudgingly tilted his head towards Ian, who nudged his head towards the back. Chase understood and nodded.

They couldn’t sit there forever. And if they were to die, they should at least be chanced to see what would send them to the afterlife.

Sighing three times and closing their eyes, the friends sluggishly turned their neck to the back. After doing so, their eyelids slowly parted open, their eyeballs rolling up.

They saw two red glowing eyes and… That was all they could see before the scene before them turned hazy. Sure, their eyes were open, but fear clouded their vision. Their nervous system had kicked in to avoid pumping too much adrenaline from the sudden shock in response to the gruesome sight.

‘It’s real! It’s real!’ Chase panicked in his head. He had, beforehand, imagined various images as to how the beast would look like and this… Just its eyes only matched one of his thoughts. Just that this was way more real and intimidating!

Ian kept looking at the eyes in fear and intuition. He had this familiar feeling with these set of eyes, like he and seen them before. Was it from his dreams?

Either way, its eyes sent shivers down their spines and once they managed to exchange a glance, they got off the ground and dashed in other direction.

An upthrust of air emanated behind as whatever was behind them seemed to have disappeared.

Without turning back, they kept running and running, as fast as their feet could carry them. They had always lagged in sports and physical exercises, but now, at this very moment, the fear for their lives made their body move like professional athletes.

One feet after the other, their sneakers drew sand from the ground as they bounced off and on, scaling past trees swiftly.

A blur zoomed past their front, just a few feet away, causing them to half-turn and slide for stoppage.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Their heartbeats got louder, banging against their rib cages. Their lungs expanded and contracted, their breathing loud and frenzied. Stopping their already built up momentum and adrenaline, had a little lash back on them. Their body was already tired before they stopped, it was their emotions that kept them going. True, they moved fast but didn’t have the stamina of pure athletes.

Huff… Huff…

Although they were tired, the friends shared a quick glance again and ran in the other direction, away from the long gone blur.

They ran and ran, but at a slower pace this time. Sighting his fallen bike from the corner of his eyes, Ian pulled Chase that was in front of him and they stopped.

“Huff… Huff… Let’s get… On the bike,” he said amid his tough breathing, pointing at the bike.

Chase nodded with his tongue stuck out like a thirsty dog. They walked briskly past the baby Hackberry tree and stopped in front of the bike laying on the ground.

“Did we just run in circles?” Chase couldn’t help but ask, holding his chest in pain.

“Doesn’t matter… Let’s just get the hell out of her--” Ian paused as he spotted something on his turned bike. “What is that?”

“Uhn?” Chase squinted his eyes and moved closer. He saw the side of the bike crushed in a little with a large footprint, with holes at the ends.

“It really is a beast,” Chase muttered subconsciously. He sounded like an archeologist who had just found out that the map to a lost treasure or place was real.

Ian shook his head and crouched behind the bike, quickly loosening the rope used to tie the Solar-gale to it. Successfully doing so, he stood up, and with Chase’s help, they lifted the blue dirt bike back on its wheels.

“I thought we risked all just to get it. Are we just gonna leave it behind?” Chase asked as he mounted the bike, staring at the Solar-gale.

Ian sighed, kick starting the bike, “We’ve risked too much already. This was a bad idea.”

With that, he revved once, releasing the clutch and tilting the throttle completely, shooting forward through the woods. They didn’t even bother to put on their helmets. They had rolled off the bike when it fell, and looking for them would take time – not like the duo remembered them in the first place.

“I shouldn’t say this, ‘cause this really isn’t a good time. But I told you so!” Chase shouted from behind.

Ian turned his head back with a frown, “Don’t--”

Chase pointed forward all of a sudden, his face grim and he yelled, “Ian!”

Reflexively, Ian returned his head to face front and he saw a red translucent wall in front of them. He pulled the brakes but it was too late, they were too close and were moving really fast.

Thoom!

They came in collision with the wall. The wall rippled like waves in the sea, the bike, Ian and Chase were repelled instantly like swatted bugs, shooting them far back across the woods.

Ian summersaulted in the air like a ragdoll, skimming though trees before finally colliding with the ground. He squirmed and groaned in pain.

Chase went through the same process and almost went unconscious. The bike got stuck in a tree.

The friends squirmed on the ground as their muscles ached and their bones tweaked. Pain drove through them with a drilling force.

Growl!

They heard their worst nightmare ring in their ears once again and the pain they felt temporarily receded. They could hear thick footsteps approaching, the growl getting louder.

Still laying on the ground, they forcefully raised their backs and looked over their feet.

Behold, standing before them was an 8ft tall bipedal beast with red fur over its taut hide. Its limbs and spine were a bit curved. It had fangs as teeth and long claws as nails. Its pointed elven ears twitched, its red eyes glowing.

Standing before them was non other than the shape shifting mythical creature. It was a werewolf. Fully transformed though it was day.

The guys didn’t even have shock written on their faces, they had expected its appearance to be something similar. The only emotion they had was fear.

Knowing they were its next victims, Chase began to recall all those gory thoughts he had in class earlier. Thoughts about how they’d be killed, eaten, shredded. How their insides would be gorged out and so on. He began to pray silently.

He swallowed his saliva, having negative thoughts again, ‘We’re definitely gonna die!’

Ian, though afraid, had his eyes narrowed, staring at the werewolf. Yes, he had seen werewolves in his dreams, but there was something so familiar with this one. He couldn’t just get a hold of it.

Then the unexpected, happened.

““Jusst ass I surrmised.””

‘What the fucking fuck!? It talked!’

‘It can talk?’

Chase and Ian thought respectively. They were shocked that it could talk, but what marveled them most was that it didn’t open its mouth.

‘Is it Psychic? Since when did werewolf become psychic?’ Chase couldn’t help but ponder.

““Yeshhh… Yhou aare thhee oneee. Yhou arre Ghordon’s Aeon,”” it said telepatically, each word like a hiss and as though it was putting on braces.

“M-me?” Chase didn’t even know what prompted him, but he found himself asking and pointing at himself just to clarify.

““Yhoo arre nnothingg,”” it glared at Chase, who for no good reason, looked disappointed.

““Yoou, greyy eeyed oone. Thhe corrupoted offsphring, thouught to haave beenn eerrassed. Hooww coiincideental,”” it smirked, revealing its fangs the more.

At this point, Ian and Chase carefully rose to their feet and stepped some feet back. They knew running was useless at this point. If hearing what it had to say would spare their life, they’d do this all day.

““I ccaamme tto thiis realm seekking reddemption. Obttaining thhe Aeon’s head andd retturning itt aas a ggift tto Lorrd Dhamon wouuld be tthhe perrfect wayyy,””, it growled.

Ian was flustered and frightened.

‘This realm? Aeon? Me? He’s gonna kill me!?’

“Dude… Err… I think it’s only aim now is to kill you now,” Chase whispered.

“I know,” Ian retorted.

He then looked up at the beast. If he was an Aeon, whatever that meant. Then he must be someone of a really high status, if this beast believes killing him would give it more power. So why not flaunt his supposed status? This could also just be another one of his superstitious dream anyways.

“What are you?” he asked, not sure of what to say.

““Yyou ddont remmeberr mee?”” the beast growled, flexing its claws.

‘I wouldn’t have asked if I did,’ Ian rolled his eyes. He knew those eyes were familiar, but from where or for whom?

““Eennough laazzying arround! I hhave grannted you enoough time tto iinhalle yyour laast bbreaths!”” the werewolf sneered, moving towards Ian, one feet after the other.

“Dude it’s coming!” Chase panicked, moving back frightfully.

Ian stood rooted on a spot, glaring at the Solar-gale by his feet.

Ian couldn’t believe all that had happened to be real; the psychic werewolf and the Hackberry tree growing that big and fast. He was probably still in English class, and had dozed off. This dream then emanated as a result of his doubt.

This was probably just a dream anyways. Anything is possible in a dream, right? The dreamer has absolutely Lordship over the logic of the dream, right? Then what was there to fear…

Relying on that theory, he bent down, and using one hand, he lifted the 70kg Solar-gale, up to his waist level. It felt light, really light.

Heh… He was right. This was just a dream and he had control over it.

Frowning, he pulled the hand holding the Solar-gale back. He exhaled and yanked the hand, throwing the 70kg machinery at the daylight werewolf.

Pa!

Like a piece of plastic hitting a wall, the machine touched the werewolf’s chest in an anticlimactic manner and dropped to the ground.

The werewolf just raised a brow.

Total silence ensued.

“What the?... Just how tough are you?” Ian asked in exasperation.

“Err… Ian? Down behind you,” Chase said from behind.

Ian turned his head and looked down.

Gasp! His eyes went wide. He saw all the parts that were once inside the Solar-gale, scattered on the ground. They must have fallen out during all the commotion.

With beads of sweats forming on his head, Ian turned front to look at the Solar-gale just to be sure. He saw that one of its sides had been ripped out. How could he have not noticed that?

‘Of course…’ he scoffed depressingly. This wasn’t one of his dreams. This was reality!

“Hehe…” Ian began to chuckle sheepishly while moving back till he stood beside Chase.

“What now, Aeon?” Chase asked.

“We…”,Ian looked at him in the eye. “… Run!”

They turned on their heels and ran for their lives.

Oooff… The beast only sighed, a gruesome smirk proceeding this. It was going to enjoy killing them, especially Ian. Although, it had killed just about every ‘security’ guarding the woods just before confronting the duo, nothing was more satisfying than taking the life of a threat, like an Aeon… whatever that name meant.

It took a step forth and vanished with the wind.

It appeared before the duo who managed to stop on time. But before they could react, the werewolf bounced at them with its claws extended and it cleaved at them. The friends staggered to the ground from the impact.

As they managed to get on their feet and flee, the Werewolf swiped the air in front of it, and the atmosphere rippled. A rushing wave out of thin air, was purged at the duo, whipping them back to opposite directions.

Bam!

Chase collided back first with a tree and dropped to the ground, his face buried in the soil.

Bam!

Ian was sent rolling back with prudent force, the thorny grasses on the ground, piercing and tearing his skin. He soon stopped rolling, laying on the floor and facing the sky, blood dripping from tiny different holes on his body. With a grunt, he turned to the side to see if Chase was in a better condition. But to his dismay, the Werewolf was inching closer to the subconscious Chase.

“No… No… Don’t…” Ian muttered inaudibly, pointing his arm with open palms at Chase.

With a sinister smirk and glistering fangs, the beast raised its claws to the side, aiming to strike it down on the auburn haired boy.

“No…!” Ian would have shouted if he had the strength to. But no, he was weak.

‘Damn it! This was all my fault!’ he regretted telling them to come here. Now, his best friend was about to die because of his stubbornness. He wished he could somehow save Chase right now, before it was too late.

The beast growled and swung its five long claws at Chase. A blur sharply zipped by.

Surprisingly, it only dug a hole in the ground, Chase was no longer in that spot. With a puzzled expression, it looked farther to see Chase on the floor, Ian lying on top of him in a protective manner. Even Ian couldn’t explain what just happened. He only wished for saving Chase and it mysteriously happened.

This vexed the beast and it shot at them, cleaving brutally this time. Surprisingly again, non of them were injured or hurt.

The werewolf was taken aback by this, it was sure to have clawed them. It bent over them and started slashing and slashing like a butcher slicing meat to minces. But surprisingly, non of its attacks touched them. Well, it didn’t touch Ian, who reflexively covered Chase with his body.

It was like an invisible dome surrounded them.

Bang! Bang!

The sound produced from the claws striking the ‘dome’ stung Ian’s ears and he almost went crazy. His ears were bleeding in no time. Out of frustration, he yanked his arm at the beast, unconsciously ramming the ‘dome’ into it and it was shot far away from sight.

Ian stood up and carried Chase in his arms. Chase weakly looked into Ian’s eyes. His deep grey eyes were now crystal bright like reflecting diamond. This was no longer his friend. It was someone else.

Whoosh!

Ian, with Chase in his arms, dashed through the woods at an insane speed.

Seconds passed by and they were no longer in the woods, but behind a building in the town.

Ian dropped Chase and staggered back, his head throbbing with immense pain. His eyes turned all white and he collapsed.